William le e



(No Model.)

W. LE B. HAWES. DASH FOR VEHIGLES No. 474.634. Patented May 10, 18-92.

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IVIIJLIAM LE B. HAWES, OF CINCINNATI, OI-IIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE DASH 'ANDCARRIAGE GOODS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

DASH FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,634, dated May 10,1892.

Application filed December 4, 1891. Serial No. 413,984. (No model.)

To (0Z5 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Ln B. I-IAwEs, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Oincinnati, in the. county of Hamilton and State ofOhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dashes forVehicles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification.

My invention relates more particularly to a device for securing a dashto the body of the vehicle; and it consists of a novel construction andarrangement of the lower rail of the dashfraine, dash-foot, and bolt bywhich the dash is secured to the foot. Buggy and carriage dashes havelong been made adapted to be adjusted to different widths and shapes ofvehicle-bodies in which the dash-feet were detachable and channeledslots were outin the lower rail-frame and bolts provided with oblongheads to engage in the channels and to secure the dash-frame to thedash-feet by nuts. In these older constructions the lower dash-rail isusually made of channel-iron, and oblong slots are cut in each end ofthe frame, through which the dash may be connected to the vehicle-body,and a bolt is provided with an oblong head, of which the width is narrowenough to pass through the slot in the lower rail of the dash, and thelength of the head is short enough to fit between the sides of thechannel in the rail when the bolt is turned, so as to bring its head tobear on the sides of the channel or groove in the bottom rail, and bymeans of this bolt the dash is secured to its foot. The dash-framebefore it is attached to the vehicle is covered with leather or othersuitable material, and the object of this construction is to enable thecovered dash to be secured without pressing outward or otherwise marringthe leather which covers the channel-iron in the bottom rail. In theseolder constructions, however, the oblong head is set at right angles tothe lower dash-rail, and the ends of the head of the bolt are arrangedto fit snugly against the sides of the channel in the lower rail. Theslots in this rail must be narrow, in order that the rail may not beunnecessarily weakened, so that the heads of the retaining-boltsmustalso be narrow, in order to pass through the slots. It results fromthis that in order to get the bolts to place and turn it around properlythe bolthead must be pushed against the leather covering and beyond thesurface of the lower rail, thus loosening and to some ex tent, at least,injuring the leather covering, and at the same time the narrowbolt-heads are hardly suflicient to support the strain on the dash whenin use. It is to overcome these two objections that my invention isdirected; and it consists principally in supplying the retaining-boltwith a rhomboidal head, as will be hereinafter more particularlydescribed and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an outside front elevation of a dash withdash-feet attached. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of one lower corner of adash-frame, showing the method of attaching same to the dash-foot. Fig.3 is a longitudinal section through the dash-foot of Fig. 2. r

A is the lower rail of a dash; B, one of the side rails; O O, thedash-feet, by means of which the dash is attached to the vehiclebody.The lower rail is provided with a channel a, and at each end oblongslots 1) are cut therein.

a is the head of the dash-foot, provided with suitable opening for thereception of the re taining-bolt cl. D is the head of this bolt,rhomboidal in shape, as shown in Fig. 2.

The daslrframe is covered with leather 6, so as to completely cover theframe-work of the dash. Openings are then out in the leather at the backto allow for the insertion of the head of the bolts D. The bolts areturned so as to pass through the slots 5 in the rail, and then turnedback so that the ends of the bolt-heads will fit snugly against thesides of the channel a therein. Directly underneath the head of thesebolts the bolt is square at f, in order to prevent the bolt from turningback after it has once been fitted to place, the sides of the portion ffitting snugly within the sides of the slots 1). Nuts g then firmlysecure the bolts in place and the dash is secured to the vehicle. Itwill be seen from this construction that it is not necessary to push thehead of the bolt against the leather 0, in order to turn it with itsends bearing against the sides of the channel; but the bolt can beturned within the channel. If the head were attached so as to be atright angles to the channel it would then be necessary to push the headbeyond the sides of the channel in order to turn it, as in olderconstructions, and in this way the attachment of the dash to the vehiclewould loosen and somewhat mar the leather covering surrounding the lowerrail. In addition to this it will be seen that the rholnbodial shape ofthe boltheads gives practically the same grasping strain on the dashthat rectangular bolts of twice the width would give. If the bolt-heads,however, were rectangular it would be necessary to have them narrower,in order to pass through the slots in the channel-rail. Two things aretherefore accomplished by my improvement over older constructions. The

dash can be attached to the feet much more readily and securely andthere is no danger of loosening or marring the leather covering of thelower rail in making the attachment.

Having thus described myinvention,what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patcut, is-

The combination, with a dash having its lower rail channeled andprovided with slots at each end, of retaining-bolts having rhomboidalheads D, arranged to be inserted through said slots and turned acrossthe channels at an acute angle to the lower dash-rail and secured to thedash-feet by nu ts, substantially as shown and described.

lVILLIAM LE 13. HAWES.

Witnesses:

GEORGE HEIDMAN, ALFRED M. ALLEN.

